Adlerian Theory: Feminist Criminology

Feminist Criminology

It is obvious to most people that when it comes to committing crimes of pretty much every different kind, it is much more likely that you will find that a man was responsible than a woman. Because of this, the field of feminist criminology has developed to help improve outr understanding of why people commit crimes so that policy may be enacted in orderempowered to reduce the prevalence of those crimes. In the United States today, not only do women commit fewer crimes, but also the crimes that they commit seem to have been of less interest to those people that are highly concerned with public safety. This has led to women being largely ignored when it comesame to the study of criminology until recent decades. It has also
The central thesis of this work is that more women (at that time) were involved in more types of criminal activity than ever before. It also looked to her that for the foreseeable future, that pattern wouldill continue. She Adler starts off her works by reviewing the patterns of women’s roles and the changing literature about women’s propensity for committing crimes. She then looked at the biological, cultural, and psychological differences between men and women in an effort to find the implications that those factors have on women’s participation in deviant activities. Next in her work, she focuses on the different types of deviant activities that women participate in, specifically those that are most prevalent at the time, which were prostitution and drug activities. She looks at the types of women that are more likely to engage in prostitution and the status that it lets them enjoy within larger society. Educated, middle-class women seem to be entering this profession more and moreappeared to be entering sex work with increasing frequency. Adler seems to explain this as women becoming more and more emotionally independent and chasing the goal of becoming economically self-sufficient. The last part of Adler’s work goes on to discuss how women are treated and are likely to be treated in the future by the courts, and once sentenced in the courts what types of sentences these women
In part, this is because female crime in general is on a much smaller scale than male crime. Still, the early contributions of theorists within the last 30-40 years have added significant insight that helps to change the overall landscape of general criminology. This research has worked to briefly highlight a couple of the major foundational works of feminist criminology, while bringing in a more modern look at female crime near the end. Because of the lack of consolidated research within this field, it is difficult to properly nail down consistent themes within this work, but that doesn’t mean that what is looked at isn’t meaningful. First, the works of Freda Adler were examined. Her most important points seemed to be that the demographics of women who commit crime are changing, and educated, middle-class women seem to be turning to prostitution and drug crimes at higher and higher rates. Next, the works of Dana Britten were looked at. She wants to see the entire lens through which we look at criminology to be changed. She looked at women who were criminals, victims, and those who actually worked within the criminal justice system. Her major theme throughout her work seems to be that criminology, in general, is by far the most masculinized area of any social sciences, and that this needs to be changed. When this is changed, it can help women get more involved in changing the overall